Tina Desai is an Indian actress and model who works in both Indian and international projects. She debuted with the 2011 thriller '' Yeh Faasley'', before making her foreign debut in 2012 in the

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'' is a 2011 British comedy-drama film directed by John Madden. The screenplay, written by Ol Parker, is based on the 2004 novel ''These Foolish Things'' by novelist Deborah Moggach, and features an ensemble c ...

''. She is also known for her main role in the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Sense8 ''Sense8'' () is an American science fiction drama television series created by Lana and Lilly Wachowski and J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. The production companies behind ''Sense8'' included the Wachowskis' Anarchos Productions (replac ...

''.

Early life

Desai was born in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

to a Gujarati father and a Telugu mother. She is a graduate in Business Management with a specialization in finance from the NIM. She is fluent in six languages—Gujarati, Telugu,

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, English,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and Punjabi.

Career

Desai began her career as a model and went on to feature in over 150 commercials and print campaigns. She participated in the

reality show Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

contest '' Get Gorgeous'' through which she was offered a contract with Elite Model India Management. She made her acting debut in 2011 in '' Yeh Faasley'', and shortly after, made her Hollywood debut in the film ''

''. She posed for the 2012 Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar and starred in the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

action thriller The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

film '' Table No. 21'' opposite

Rajeev Khandelwal Rajeev Khandelwal (born 16 October 1975) is an Indian film and television actor, singer and host. He started his career directing the television series ''Filmy Chakkar''. His break as an actor was as the lead in the television drama, '' Kahiin ...

. She appeared in the romantic song "Yeh Kahan Mil Gaye Hum" with singer KK. In 2015, Desai booked two high-profile English language projects, '' The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'', a sequel to the 2012 hit and the Netflix drama ''

'' by

The Wachowskis Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

and

J. Michael Straczynski Joseph Michael Straczynski, known as J. Michael Straczynski (; born July 17, 1954) is an American filmmaker and comic book writer. He is the founder of Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Studio JMS and is known as the creator of the science fiction televi ...

in which she plays Kala Dandekar. In 2016, she

voiced Voice or voicing is a term used in phonetics and phonology to characterize speech sounds (usually consonants). Speech sounds can be described as either voiceless (otherwise known as ''unvoiced'') or voiced. The term, however, is used to refe ...

the character of Ashima in the ''

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher Awdry, Christopher, the series was developed for ...

'' film ''

The Great Race ''The Great Race'' is a 1965 American Technicolor epic slapstick comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood, written by Arthur A. Ross (from a story by Edwards and Ross) and with music by Henr ...

'', and 2 years later in 2018, Desai voiced Ashima in some of the episodes of seasons 22, 23 & 24 of Thomas and Friends. In April 2018, Tina played the role of Jenny in a short film titled 'Good luck' for ''

Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

, directed by Sujoy Ghosh.'' In 2021, Desai starred in the

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

web series ''Mumbai Diaries 26/11''. Directed by

Nikkhil Advani Nikkhil Suresh Advani (born 28 April 1971) is an Indian director, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. He along with his sister, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani, co-founded the entertainment company Emmay Entertainment. Early ...

and produced by

Emmay Entertainment Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures LLP is an Indian content production company based in Mumbai, India. It was founded by Nikkhil Advani, Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani in 2011. After its inception, it began with full-length feature f ...

, it also stars Mohit Raina and

Konkona Sen Sharma Konkona Sen Sharma (; born 3 December 1979) is an Indian actress and filmmaker who works primarily in Bengali and Hindi films. She has received several awards, including two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards. The daughter of filmm ...

. Desai then appeared in

crime thriller Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

film '' Bob Biswas'' directed by Diya Annapurna Ghosh and produced by

Red Chillies Entertainment Red Chillies Entertainments Private Limited, doing business as Red Chillies Entertainment; abbreviated as RCE is an Indian entertainment company established by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002. It was transformed from the d ...

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Desai, Tina Living people Actresses from Bengaluru Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Indian web series actresses Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Hindi television Telugu actresses Gujarati actresses Female models from Bengaluru Indian expatriate actresses in the United States Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Indian actresses